New Delhi, Sep 14 (NVI): The Indian Air Force on Monday began its first Dronathon-2026 at the Pokhran Field Firing Range in Jaisalmer to assess emerging unmanned systems technologies under realistic operational conditions.
Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit, Vice Chief of the Air Staff, inaugurated the three-day event, which is being held from September 14 to 16 and brings together more than 20 defence companies, start-ups, MSMEs, DPSUs and innovators from India’s unmanned systems sector.
The event was attended by senior officials from the Ministry of Defence, Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff, Indian Army and Border Security Force.
The IAF said unmanned systems are an important complement to manned aviation, providing commanders with additional options to enhance the reach, persistence, responsiveness and flexibility of air operations.
During Dronathon-2026, participating firms and innovators will demonstrate unmanned aircraft systems and associated technologies across capabilities such as surveillance and reconnaissance, autonomous operations, swarm technologies, electronic warfare and counter-unmanned aircraft systems.
The systems are being assessed for reliability and effectiveness in demanding and contested environments, with the focus on moving beyond technology demonstrations towards operational effectiveness, the IAF said.
During the inaugural event, Dixit also released the ‘IAF UAS Roadmap’, aimed at providing greater clarity to the Indian industry on the force’s capability priorities and enabling industry, academia and research organisations to align innovation with future operational requirements.
On the opening day, the IAF demonstrated ‘Vayu UTtaM’, an indigenously developed multi-mode Unmanned Traffic Management system, at the Pokhran range.
The system demonstrated its capability to detect and track both military and civil unmanned aircraft systems in real time. The capability is intended to facilitate coordinated management of UAS operations in increasingly congested airspace and support identification and timely mitigation of unauthorised or rogue drones.
The IAF said Vayu UTtaM could also find applications beyond the military domain, including airspace safety, critical infrastructure, civil aviation and public safety.
Dronathon-2026 underscores the IAF’s focus on ‘Atmanirbharta’ in unmanned systems, with emphasis on developing the wider ecosystem covering propulsion, sensors and payloads, communications, autonomy, electronic warfare, countermeasures and airspace management.—(NVI)
